diff --git a/lib/timers_legacy.js b/lib/timers_legacy.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..d6fede1fa04194
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/timers_legacy.js
@@ -0,0 +1,224 @@
+// Copyright Joyent, Inc. and other Node contributors.
+//
+// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+// copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
+// "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
+// without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
+// distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit
+// persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
+// following conditions:
+//
+// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
+// in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+//
+// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
+// OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
+// MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN
+// NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
+// DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
+// OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE
+// USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+
+var Timer = process.binding('timer').Timer;
+var L = require('_linklist');
+var assert = require('assert').ok;
+
+var debug;
+if (process.env.NODE_DEBUG && /timer/.test(process.env.NODE_DEBUG)) {
+  debug = function() { require('util').error.apply(this, arguments); };
+} else {
+  debug = function() { };
+}
+
+
+// IDLE TIMEOUTS
+//
+// Because often many sockets will have the same idle timeout we will not
+// use one timeout watcher per item. It is too much overhead.  Instead
+// we'll use a single watcher for all sockets with the same timeout value
+// and a linked list. This technique is described in the libev manual:
+// http://pod.tst.eu/http://cvs.schmorp.de/libev/ev.pod#Be_smart_about_timeouts
+
+// Object containing all lists, timers
+// key = time in milliseconds
+// value = list
+var lists = {};
+
+
+// the main function - creates lists on demand and the watchers associated
+// with them.
+function insert(item, msecs) {
+  item._idleStart = new Date();
+  item._idleTimeout = msecs;
+
+  if (msecs < 0) return;
+
+  var list;
+
+  if (lists[msecs]) {
+    list = lists[msecs];
+  } else {
+    list = new Timer();
+    L.init(list);
+
+    lists[msecs] = list;
+
+    list.callback = function() {
+      debug('timeout callback ' + msecs);
+      // TODO - don't stop and start the watcher all the time.
+      // just set its repeat
+      var now = new Date();
+      debug('now: ' + now);
+
+      var first;
+      while (first = L.peek(list)) {
+        var diff = now - first._idleStart;
+        if (diff + 1 < msecs) {
+          list.again(msecs - diff);
+          debug(msecs + ' list wait because diff is ' + diff);
+          return;
+        } else {
+          L.remove(first);
+          assert(first !== L.peek(list));
+          if (first._onTimeout) first._onTimeout();
+        }
+      }
+
+      debug(msecs + ' list empty');
+      assert(L.isEmpty(list));
+      list.stop();
+    };
+  }
+
+  if (L.isEmpty(list)) {
+    // if empty (re)start the timer
+    list.again(msecs);
+  }
+
+  L.append(list, item);
+  assert(!L.isEmpty(list)); // list is not empty
+}
+
+
+var unenroll = exports.unenroll = function(item) {
+  L.remove(item);
+
+  var list = lists[item._idleTimeout];
+  // if empty then stop the watcher
+  debug('unenroll');
+  if (list && L.isEmpty(list)) {
+    debug('unenroll: list empty');
+    list.stop();
+  }
+};
+
+
+// Does not start the time, just sets up the members needed.
+exports.enroll = function(item, msecs) {
+  // if this item was already in a list somewhere
+  // then we should unenroll it from that
+  if (item._idleNext) unenroll(item);
+
+  item._idleTimeout = msecs;
+  L.init(item);
+};
+
+
+// call this whenever the item is active (not idle)
+// it will reset its timeout.
+exports.active = function(item) {
+  var msecs = item._idleTimeout;
+  if (msecs >= 0) {
+    var list = lists[msecs];
+    if (item._idleNext == item) {
+      insert(item, msecs);
+    } else {
+      item._idleStart = new Date();
+      L.append(list, item);
+    }
+  }
+};
+
+
+/*
+ * DOM-style timers
+ */
+
+
+exports.setTimeout = function(callback, after) {
+  var timer;
+
+  if (after <= 0) {
+    // Use the slow case for after == 0
+    timer = new Timer();
+    timer.callback = callback;
+  } else {
+    timer = { _idleTimeout: after, _onTimeout: callback };
+    timer._idlePrev = timer;
+    timer._idleNext = timer;
+  }
+
+  /*
+   * Sometimes setTimeout is called with arguments, EG
+   *
+   *   setTimeout(callback, 2000, "hello", "world")
+   *
+   * If that's the case we need to call the callback with
+   * those args. The overhead of an extra closure is not
+   * desired in the normal case.
+   */
+  if (arguments.length > 2) {
+    var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 2);
+    var c = function() {
+      callback.apply(timer, args);
+    };
+
+    if (timer instanceof Timer) {
+      timer.callback = c;
+    } else {
+      timer._onTimeout = c;
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (timer instanceof Timer) {
+    timer.start(0, 0);
+  } else {
+    exports.active(timer);
+  }
+
+  return timer;
+};
+
+
+exports.clearTimeout = function(timer) {
+  if (timer && (timer.callback || timer._onTimeout)) {
+    timer.callback = timer._onTimeout = null;
+    exports.unenroll(timer);
+    if (timer instanceof Timer) timer.stop(); // for after === 0
+  }
+};
+
+
+exports.setInterval = function(callback, repeat) {
+  var timer = new Timer();
+
+  if (arguments.length > 2) {
+    var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 2);
+    timer.callback = function() {
+      callback.apply(timer, args);
+    };
+  } else {
+    timer.callback = callback;
+  }
+
+  timer.start(repeat, repeat ? repeat : 1);
+  return timer;
+};
+
+
+exports.clearInterval = function(timer) {
+  if (timer instanceof Timer) {
+    timer.callback = null;
+    timer.stop();
+  }
+};
diff --git a/lib/timers.js b/lib/timers_uv.js
similarity index 100%
rename from lib/timers.js
rename to lib/timers_uv.js
diff --git a/src/node.js b/src/node.js
index 2f7c4b9a632a36..f250a403f22f9f 100644
--- a/src/node.js
+++ b/src/node.js
@@ -374,10 +374,17 @@
   // flag --use-uv to enable the libuv backend instead of the legacy
   // backend.
   function translateId(id) {
-    if (id == 'net') {
-      return process.useUV || process.env.NODE_USE_UV ? 'net_uv' : 'net_legacy';
-    } else {
-      return id;
+    var useUV = process.useUV || process.env.NODE_USE_UV;
+
+    switch (id) {
+      case 'net':
+        return useUV ? 'net_uv' : 'net_legacy';
+
+      case 'timers':
+        return useUV ? 'timers_uv' : 'timers_legacy';
+
+      default:
+        return id;
     }
   }